Finding Amy (11 page)

Chapter 16

“Will the owner of a 2012 Dodge dually, Texas license plate number LRW43 please come to the check-out counter immediately.” The announcement blared over the intercom catching Carson by surprise. He jumped up from the booth where they were eating and hurried to the counter.

“I’m the owner of the Dodge dually. Is there a problem?” Several men standing around the counter glared at him.

The disgruntled clerk pointed a pencil in the direction of the three angry looking men leaning on her counter. “These gentlemen are all trying to sleep and it seems the alarm on you truck is going off.” She narrowed her eyes. “I suggest you do something before there’s an all out war.”

Carson glanced through the oversize window and couldn’t see his truck from that angle.
“I’ll check on it.” He shoved the back door open and rushed out into the cold. The alarm blared over the noise of trucks pulling into the parking lot. Carson pressed the button on his key ring and the obnoxious noise ceased. A line of angry men followed him outside and stood by the truck until the noise stopped.

An overweight trucker stepped forwarded and snarled.
“Hey. You’re not the man I talked to earlier.”

“No. I’ve been in the restaurant
,” Carson replied. “Someone was messing with my truck? What’d he look like?”

The big man rubbed his head. “Yeah.
About your size and wearing a long black duster and a ski mask. The dumb ass ain’t dressed for this weather with them fancy shoes. He said he locked his keys in the truck but couldn’t find them after he got it open.”

“I’m sorry about the alarm. I don’t think it malfunction
ed. Did the man say anything else?”

The big man leaned against Carson’s truck and shook his head.
“I told him he better get it fixed or he would have some mad truckers out here in a minute.”

“Did you see which way he went?”

“Nope. I just want the alarm off so me and my old lady can sleep. I’ve got a long haul tomorrow.”

Carson
held up his key pad. “Well it’s off now.” He looked into the bed and spotted the footprints in the fresh snow. Someone had been through the suitcases. The snow had fallen off the four bags and there were smudges around the locks. “I don’t think you’ll have any more trouble. I’m truly sorry.” Carson jerked the back door open. The interior light reflected on the scratch mark that ran the length of the window. Animal crackers littered the floorboard but everything seemed to be in place. Opening the front door, he checked the glove box. His extra gun and phone were still there. Nothing seemed to be amiss but he could tell the truck had been searched. Guthrie had been here.

Carson scanned the parking lot. There were so many vehicles with motors running to ward off the cold
, he couldn’t spot anything suspicious. He identified one black SUV by the back entrance of the truck stop. There were three teens sitting in the back seat and a woman with dark hair in the front. A heavy set man exited the store and climbed into the vehicle and pulled away. No other dark SUV’s were in the lot. That worried him. Max had to have switched vehicles. After the run-in on the highway his car must be as bad off as Carson’s truck. If not worse.

Without going from vehicle to vehicle there wasn’t much he could do out here.
What if this had been a setup to get him away from the women? They could be in danger. If that damn horn hadn’t disturbed the sleepers, he wouldn’t have left them. A since of urgency sent Carson rushing back inside. He scanned the store before moving back into the restaurant. Amy still sat at the table at the front of the restaurant. Alone. She focused on the parking lot out the window. He sat across from her, took two deep breaths and willed his heart to slow down.

“Where are the other two?” He picked up the iced tea and drank half the glass.

Amy turned around. “They went to the restroom.” She placed her arms on the table and leaned forward. “What happened?”

He crossed his arms on the table and leaned toward Amy. Her green eyes were ringed with dark circles.
Despite his intensive training, Carson couldn’t hide the tension in his voice. “Someone broke into the truck and searched the suitcases in the back.”

Amy
laid her forehead in her hands. Carson moved to sit beside her and wrapped an arm around her shoulder. “We’re going to be okay, Amy. Let me do the worrying. You concentrate on staying alert. I don’t know where he is but I know he’s close and I need your eyes to help me watch.”

Amy
nodded. “I know you’re doing everything you can. I just don’t think Jamie’s taking all of this seriously. I’ve tried to explain the need—.”

“Excuse me.”
A frantic woman ran up to their table. Her eyes wide and her face as pale as the white tablecloth. “Are you Amy Summers?”

Amy sat forward. “Yes. Is something wrong?”

The woman leaned over the table and lowered her voice. “There’s a woman in the restroom that looks just like you and she’s been hurt. She sent me to get you. She wouldn’t let me call security.”

Carson
ran toward the back of the store a step ahead of Amy. He barreled in the women’s restrooms without concern. Hunched over in the back corner, knees bent up to her chest and holding the left side of her head, sat Jamie. Blood seeped through her fingers. He squatted in front of her. Amy arrived behind him and knelt beside her sister. Carson reached for her hand and gently pulled it away to exam the wound. The blood oozed from a two inch cut on the side of her head at the hairline. “Amy, get a paper towel and wet it.”

Amy
gasped, panting in terror. Carson turned his head to her. Her pale face stared at her twin. “Don’t fall apart on me, Amy. I need you to stay focused.”

Amy rose and returned
a few seconds later with the towel and cleaned the bleeding area on Jamie’s head. Jamie winced when she rubbed across the cut.

“
I don’t think it will require stitches,” Amy’s hand shook when she checked Jamie’s eyes. “Are you dizzy or lightheaded?”

Jamie
stared straight ahead.

“I think she’s in shock. We need to call an ambulance.”

“No!” Jamie screamed. “He’ll kill her. You can’t tell anyone.”

Carson looked around the bathroom. He lowered his head and se
arched under the stalls. “Jamie, where’s Trish?”

Amy
glanced around the large restroom. Jamie wept, hysterically. Amy jerked Jamie’s hands away from her face and shook them. “Snap out of it, Jamie. Where’s Trish?”

“
Jamie, tell me what happened?” Carson ordered.

Jamie
glanced at her sister with glazed eyes. She turned her head as if seeing Carson for the first time. Her head started shaking back and forth. “She took her. That woman took Trish.”

Chapter 17

Max grinned at his ingenuity. He had spotted the prostitute when he moved his vehicle away from Carson’s blaring truck. She approached while he watched Carson search for anything that might be missing. Dumb ass cop didn’t realize Max only wanted the bag of money. Nothing else interested him.

The dark
-haired hooker startled Max when she knocked on his window. He cracked the window an inch. “Do you want some company?” She’d asked. He shook his head and pushed the button to raise the window. That’s when it hit him.

Max lowered the window. “Wait a minute.” The woman smiled and walked back to his truck. Her make-up
had smeared under her eyes causing them to look like big black pieces of coal. One eyebrow had a silver bar running through it with a tiny silver ball attached to each end. Dark red lipstick had bled into the wrinkles around her mouth. Older hooker, been around for a while, probable willing to do about anything if the price is right; Max deducted.

“Change your mind, sugar?” She leaned inside the open
window, pushing her boobs up for him to get a better view.

“Maybe. Why don’t you hop in and we’ll discuss it.”

When the woman sat in the passenger seat, Max turned to look at the truck stop. “My ex is in that truck stop with my baby girl. I have a court order that keeps her from leaving the state with my baby.” He faced the hooker. “She’s with some man and they’ve already left the state of Montana. I want to take my daughter back home but I need help.”

“Whoa
, sugar. I don’t get involved with domestic issues.” She reached for the handle but Max grabbed her arm.

“I’ll give you five hundred dollars.”

The prostitute stopped. “Did you say five hundred dollars? Cash?”

“Five, one hundred dollar bills.” Max assured her.

“Show me the money.” She held up her hand and rubbed her thumb across her fingers.

Max reached in his coat, retrieved his wallet, extracted the bills
and fanned them in front of her face.

“
What do I have to do?”

****

When Amy had Jamie’s cut cleaned, she and Carson helped her out to the truck. She climbed in the back seat with her twin. Carson produced a first-aid kit and Amy disinfected the area and added a Band-aid.

Jamie
had insisted that Carson not report the abduction and wanted him to take her outside. Amy had about reached the breaking point waiting for Jamie to tell them who took Trish.

“
Jamie, the sooner you tell me what happened, the sooner I can find Trish.” Carson turned in the seat to address her.

“A woman came in while
we were using the bathroom.” Jamie wiped her nose with the tissue Amy handed her. “She banged on our stall door and I told her we were almost finished. When I opened the door, she stuck a gun in my face and told me to kneel. Trish hid behind me but the woman grabbed her hand and told her if she screamed she would shoot her mommy. She handed me this phone then hit me with the gun. When I came to, Trish was gone. That’s when that other woman came in, found me and I sent her to find you.”

“
The woman who hit you, what did she look like?” Carson asked.

Jamie touched the cut on her head and looked out the window.
“She had dark black hair, about shoulder length. Her make-up was smeared and she smelled.”

“What
is she wearing?” Carson took a pad out of the glove box.

“
A black coat and boots with blue feathers around the top. She had on shorts and a tight shirt under the coat.” Jamie laid her head against the back seat. “My baby.” She sobbed.

“Why won’t you let us call the
police, Jamie,” Amy questioned.

Jamie
lifted her head. “If I call the cops, I’ll never see Trish again.”

“
Where did this woman come from? Did Max have her with him?” Amy gripped the front seat.

Carson
rubbed the bridge of his nose. “I don’t think so. I think he picked up someone and had her do the dirty work.”

“W
hy would he take Trish and not one of us?” Amy questioned. This didn’t make any sense to her.

Carson had been
staring out the front window; looking at nothing. He turned toward her. “I think Trish is insurance. I’m sure Max broke into the truck. He’s looking for something and he’s going to use Trish for ransom to get what he wants.”

Amy’s jaw clenched
and she closed her eyes. When she addressed her twin her voice shook. “The money. He’s after the money.” She shook Jamie. “The money’s in that bag, isn’t it, Jamie? For God’s sake, give him the bag.”

Jamie
slumped down in the seat. “I can’t. I don’t have it.”

Amy
’s stomach churned and her meal rose into her throat. “What do you mean, you don’t have it? Where is it?” she yelled.

“Don’t yell at me
.” Jamie covered her ears and coward away from Amy. “I thought the best thing to do would be to mail it back to Texas. I did that at the first truck stop. They had a post office in the back and I put the duffel bag in a box and mailed it to a post office box I have in Tyler.”

“Why would you think that
was a good idea?” Amy questioned.

Jamie
shook her head. “I don’t know. In case someone tried to steal it. Besides, I didn’t want to carry it around.”

Carson
sighed and threw his pad down on the seat. “I’m going to do some snooping around. Maybe I can locate the woman Max used. Lock the doors.” He opened the door, pulled the collar up on his leather jacket and disappeared behind an eighteen wheeler. Amy wanted to follow him but he didn’t need her in his way. As usual, Jamie needed her. After twenty-five years of being the big sister, she wanted to relinquish the job of babysitting Jamie. Amy wanted a life of her own. Jamie needed to stand on her own two feet and take responsibility of her actions. The time had come for Amy to force her to grow up. And she would, as soon as they had Trish back. Now isn’t the time to put more pressure on her twin.

****

Carson caught up with a driver about to climb into his rig and stopped him. “Excuse me. I’m a Ranger out of Texas and we’ve had a problem. I wonder if I could ask you a few questions?”

The driver
removed his foot from the first step and turned away, throwing his arms in the air. “Hey, Buddy. I didn’t do nothing.”

Carson moved closer with his palm facing the man. “No. No. I’m just looking for information.”

The potbellied man scratched his head. “Okay. But make it quick. I’ve got to get down the road.”

Twenty minutes later, Carson knocked on the window
for Amy to unlock the door. He climbed into the driver’s seat.

“Did you learn anything?” Amy
scooted forward and rested her arm on the front seat.

Carson didn’t realize she
was so close and when he turned, their lips were only inches apart. With tears staining her cheeks and the redness around her eyes, she held the similar innocents in her beautiful face that he had seen in Trish. He forgot everything but tasting her again and before he could stop, his mouth found hers. She moaned softly.

He
eased back and adjusted his position to get away from those inviting lips. What the hell is this woman doing to me? He caressed her face with the back of his left hand. “Amy.”

A sudden
ringing distracted him. He hadn’t heard that ring tone before, it must belong to one of the women. “Is that yours?” Carson asked.

Amy shook her head. “
Jamie.” She had cried herself to sleep. “Wake up. You have a call.”

Jamie
sat up. “What? Whose phone is ringing?”

Carson flipped on the
overhead light. “Quick. Find that phone the woman gave you.”

Both women scrambled through purses and pockets
searching for the phone. Jamie found it in her coat pocket and pushed the button to answer. “Hello. This is Jamie. Yes. Where’s my baby? Is she okay? I want to talk to her. Why? What did you do to her, you bastard? Yes. Yes. I don’t have it. No. I mailed it to Tyler.” A long pause followed. “No.” Jamie screamed. “No. Don’t hang up.” She slung the phone across the seat of the truck and covered her face with her hands.

Amy tried to pull
Jamie’s hands away. “What did he say, Jamie.”

“Was that Max?”
Carson asked.

Jamie
nodded.

“Tell me what he said.” Carson’s stern voice caught Amy off guard. In the short
time she had known him, he had never been so forceful.

Amy saw the emptiness in
Jamie’s eyes when she stared at Carson. “He wants the bag and he’ll return Trish. When I told him that I’d mailed it, he got furious and started yelling at me.” She hung her head. “I’ll get her back when he gets the bag.”

Amy fell back against the seat. “Oh my God.”

Carson shoved the truck into gear and skidded out of the parking lot. “Then I guess we better get back to Texas.”